Beer Town: Session beers

Session Beers are so over looked and misunderstood in America. We think that more is better more alcohol, more hops, more this, and more that. But session beers are more, more flavor and more enjoyment. This is a beer to be consumed, by its style in complexity and intrigue to make the taste buds dance and the mind to be clear to ponder.
In England session beers are the norm every brewery brews one or two and are found in pretty much every pub. There are a few session beer styles out there but you need to know what to look for.
Beer styles for people new to beer are the attributes that make up the beer. Such as the color, alcohol content, hop bitterness, flavor, ingredients and sometimes country of origin. The beer styles that are in this group but not limited to so called sessions beers are English Ordinary, and Special Bitters, my favorite English Milds, Scottish ales 60 and 70 shillings and a Berliner Weisse. Most people wouldn’t think of a Berliner Weisse Bier as a session beer but I would surely categorize it as one.
All of these session beer styles are hundreds of years old these beers are nothing new. What they were was that the mega-beer companies of our country hid them from us. With the public becoming more educated and our thirst for real beer the breweries are pulling old tricks out of their new mash-tuns.
As an Ale lover these are some of my favorite beers that I drink and once you try a few session beers you will be an Ale Lover too. “Cheers”
My own home brewed Mild 3.8% alcohol, 20 IBU, and color 17 (SRM). Delicious

5 responses to “Beer Town: Session beers”

I’m English, living in America and miss a great <4%ABV beer. It's stereotypical to say that everything is bigger in America but the stereotypical view is not far from the truth when it comes to beer as you point out.
Bigger most certainly is not better in the beer world but when it's all you have known, tasting a great low ABV bitter must be a shock to a person that's used to drinking a hop bomb and not being able to taste anything beyond hops.
I brewed a session bitter and served it this w/e to a couple of American hop heads. After their first taste the response was it tastes of nothing. After finishing the pint they were asking for more saying hey this is really tasty and what is that subtle taste and aroma.
Two converts, now I have to work on the umpteen million people over here.
Twitter: @Stuart_Arnold

I’ve been trying to change the populous for a long time. For Americans its like a child wanting something new that looks cool or the fastest on that basis along. But it is not actually the best its new to them. They grow up in a society that was manipulated by marketing. That taste great and less filling meant great beer or women running around in bikini’s. Now they have options for beer and they are picking at straws and thinking more is better. Paradise is sitting in an English pub at noon with an order of fish and chips and a bitters, chit chatting the afternoon away. Thanks for the input Stuart “Cheers”

Nice post! I have to agree that a certain segment of the population in my neck of the woods is also confused as to the definition of a proper session ale. With the growth of craft brewing in the Pacific Northwest of Canada and the United States, some interesting beers have been introduced to the public. While the beers are fine and dandy, many are going for novelty status with IBU’s listed well over 100 in some cases – more bitter than a person can actually taste. A beer like that makes for a good one or two pints/bottles, but it’s hard to enjoy a beer with an overload of hops – or anything for that matter – over the span of a night because your taste buds wont notice any complexity to it. A good session ale, in my opinion, is a nice balance of alcohol content, hops and malts, with dashes of spice, vanilla, or coffee for example. Enough to make your palate question what this mysterious beer is made of throughout the night.

Thanks for the input. I like your articles especially the Heather Ale. I have the same Historic Ale variety pack and holding off on having it until I can sit down and write about it. I think it is so great that there are so many people now spreading the word of real beer and their experiences.

Yes marketers are very good at manipulation. At the moment in the UK Industrial Lager is king but is beginning to decline. There is a reason for this that would be too lengthy to explain here though. see you are in the Atlanta area, have you crossed paths with the person known as D_I_N_G on Twitter. He’s a very knowledgeable guy when it comes to beers, especially session beers.
Stu